


Frodo Baggins, Love Detective

by UnshoddenShipper



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Bilbo Remains In Erebor, F/M, Gen, Kink Meme, Ori and Frodo bonding, Ori centric in a roundabout way, fem!Bilbo, young frodo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 03:38:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2566856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnshoddenShipper/pseuds/UnshoddenShipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Ori, do you love Aunt Bilba?”</p>
<p>Said scribe’s eyebrows shot up as he turned to face Frodo.</p>
<p>“Yes I do,” he said, watching the child come to stand beside his desk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frodo Baggins, Love Detective

[Written for The Hobbit Kink Meme](http://hobbit-kink.livejournal.com/13429.html?thread=24543093#t24543093)

\----

“Let me help you down there, my boy. There we are!”

Frodo turned from his aunt’s grasp to gaze at the small hobbit hole. It was cobbled mostly with stone, but it was topped with grass and moss, which crept down the front to join his aunt’s flowers. “Thank you, Aunty Bee,” he told her for what felt the hundredth time.

Bilba smiled down at him, giving his hands a squeeze. “We are family, you and I. And you are doing me a great favor, coming to stay with us. This old mountain needs more hobbits, and the Smail is too big for Ori and I alone.”

From the back of the cart his aunt’s husband, a dwarf, hoisted Frodo’s luggage onto his shoulders as though it were light as a feather. The hobbit lad opened his mouth to insist he could take it, but felt silly, and shy.

\----

Frodo had just finished writing his letter to Merry when Ori appeared at the door. 

“Afternoon Tea is ready,” the dwarf offered.

Frodo smiled and faltered, not sure what to say. He nodded and made to join him.

“I mean- if you’re doing something, that’s fine.” Ori added hastily. “I’m not telling you what to do. I’m just letting you know.”

“Tea sounds nice.” Frodo supplied, clasping his hands behind his back. His aunt’s husband nodded, and lead the way.

Their home wasn’t much like Bag End, but it was still warm and inviting, and Ori’s boots thudded softly on the floor as they joined Aunt Bilba in the kitchen. She was spooning tea leaves into clay cups, as autumn leaves fell outside the window.

“There’s my two favorite men. What tea would you like, Frodo?”

\----

While at the Ur family’s dinner party, Frodo had fallen asleep on the rug alongside some of Bombur’s youngest. When the boy awoke in his own bed, he had a sneaking suspicion that it had, in fact, been _Ori’s_ arms that held him and _Ori’s_ squishy knitted chest he had snuggled with on the way home.

\----

Frodo packed a cucumber sandwich and canteen of water for this next adventure. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he hopped off the kitchen stool and trotted to the back door. Swinging it ajar, he was met with-- his aunt and her dwarf smooching it up in the vegetable garden! 

“Ugh!” He exclaimed, shocked and horrified. As they jumped and whirled around he slammed the door shut again. Disgusting!

\----

“Aunty Bee,” Frodo hissed. “Aunty Beeee.”

He tapped her arm lightly, trying to be quiet as a mouse in the silent, dark room.

Bilba stirred, and sighed. She was spooned around her husband, an arm wrapped around him as they slept. Biting his lip, Frodo hesitated. The silence stretched, and he tried again.

“Aunty Beeeee.”

The dwarf shifted. “Mmm?” He uttered, voice cracked and froggy. “Frodo?”

Frodo winced; wrong partner. “Sorry,” he whispered.

“Are you alright?” Ori rasped, starting to sit up. His hair and beard flew every which way, fluffy and unkempt. 

“I couldn’t sleep.”

Ori yawned. “You can sleep in here if you want,” he murmured, rubbing an eye.

“Okay,” Frodo whispered. “Thank you.”

“Mmm,” Ori curled up again, and was asleep by the time Frodo had shimmied in on Bilba’s other side.

\----

“Shall we get peas?” Bilba asked, hefting a handful from the vegetable cart.

“I don’t like peas-” Frodo faltered, snapping his head to Ori, who looked just as surprised they’d spoken at the same time.

\----

“Aunty Bee, why did you marry Ori?” Frodo asked one evening. The pair sat fireside, each with a book. Marking her place, Bilba crossed one leg over the other with a bemused expression.

“Plenty of reasons. Chief amongst them being I love him.”

Frodo rolled his eyes as she smirked.

“Then why do you love him?”

“This is a rather soft topic, my boy,” She said with a hint of blush on her cheeks. “Surely you’re not interested in something so dull as romance?”

Frodo smiled toothily. “Very well,” She sighed, but sounded pleased to share. “I fell in love with Ori when we were on our adventure, but I cannot say precisely when.”

Frodo got comfortable, pulling a blanket over himself. Bilba shifted too, propping her feet on the footstool and laying back amongst pillows. “He was by far the least rude of the Company, so we chatted quite a bit. I found out he was a writer, like me, and he knit as well. So when we made camp he and I would knit together after dinner, share writing samples, and talk and talk.”

“How cute,” Frodo chirped, and she waved him off.

“It was after I saw him use a war hammer that I _really _started to fancy him,” she said mischieviously.__

“What!”

“So _strong _, so _masculine _.”____

“Bilba!” The lad cried.

As Frodo buried his face in his hands, she regaled how ridiculously attractive she found the dwarf, how when he got all disheveled and dirty during the quest she got weak in the knees, and how she schemed to claim him as her own.

\----

Frodo watched with interest as Ori brushed and braided Aunt Bilba’s hair. They did this every morning, and they were both gentle and patient, never tugging. Bilba chatted with him as she wove Ori’s hair, and Frodo thought they both looked very nice.

“Can I have braids in my hair too?” Frodo asked.

“Of course,” Bilba picked him up and put him on the counter.

“And beads?” He added.

“We just have to make you some,” she said.

\----

“Ori, do you love Aunt Bilba?”

Said scribe’s eyebrows shot up as he turned to face Frodo.

“Yes I do,” he said, watching the child come to stand beside his desk.

“Is that why you married her?”

“It is.”

The boy furrowed his brow in deep thought, staring at the dwarvish runes on the page. Big blue eyes shot up to catch Ori’s again. “Do you think she’s pretty?” He demanded.

“G- yes,” Ori said thickly.

“Do you think she’s smart?” Frodo leaned closer.

“The smartest,” Ori affirmed.

“When did you start to love her?”

“Why don’t you… have a seat.” Ori gestured awkwardly, and Frodo hopped onto the desk. Ori leaned back in his chair.

They sat quietly, studying each other. A ticking clock was the only sound.

“I have loved your aunt,” Ori broke the silence, “For a long while.”

“How long?”

“I first realized in Mirkwood, when I was in jail. Remember that part of the story?”

Frodo nodded. “You were starving and full of poison.”

“It was a wonderful time,” the dwarf said dryly. “I thought I’d never see your aunt again, and it made me so sad. And when I thought about her, I realized she was my One.”

Frodo kicked his feet and digested this. Beside him, Ori rested his elbows on the desk. The clock ticked rhythmically, and it made Frodo feel drowsy.

\----

“Uncle Ori, can you pass the carrots?”

Ori choked into his mug, and Bilba was so surprised she ceased their game of footsie under the table.

\----

“Did you see that? What did I tell you?” Bilba elbowed her husband, who beamed. They sat alone in the garden, smoking their pipes and basking in their victory.

“‘Uncle Ori’”, he echoed, chest puffing out. “That’s me.”


End file.
